Bangalore Pillar Collapse: Under-Construction Metro Project Claims Two Lives; Public Blame Govt For Lack Of Safety Protocols

Bengaluru witnessed the shocking and tragic death of twenty-eight-year-old Tejaswini and her two-and-a-half-year-old son Vihaan after an under-construction pillar of the Namma Metro work collapsed on them at Nagavara on January 10. The collapse of the pillar instantly killed the two who were travelling on a bike. Tejaswini's husband Lohith Kumar, who was riding the bike, escaped unhurt.

With this incident, many netizens and opposition members have put the Namma Bengaluru metro construction under fire and demanded officials take necessary measures to ensure people's safety, along with the due completion of the projects.

Metro Rail Works Turned Tragic For Family

According to a statement from the officials, the couple and their twin children were passing on their bikes through the stretch of road where construction was ongoing when the iron pillar crashed on them. Lohith was taking the children to the nursery school and his wife was on her way to her office when the tragedy struck the family. A report by the Free Press Journal quoted him saying, "I was about to drop them off en route to my office when in a matter of fraction the incident happened. I've lost everything. Safety should be ensured so that such incidents don't occur again."

Eyewitnesses said that the family of four was rushed to the hospital immediately by the passersby, but the mother and son died by the time they were brought to the hospital. The witnesses also noted that the people requested the civic body to help them remove the wreckage and the barricades, but no one budged, leading the locals to take matters into their own hands.

Meanwhile, on the outer ring road near HBR Layout, which eventually leads to the spot of the accident, Tejaswini's father-in-law Vijay Kumar was stuck in the traffic, unknown to the tragedy that had dawned on their family. He was under the impression that it was yet another traffic congestion in the city and got to know the news only after picking up the repeated calls from his son.

A report by LiveMint quoted Kumar saying that safety precautions were given a go-by as there were no proper reinforcements provided to the iron rod casing the pillar. He also stated, "When the Metro Rail work is on, no one should be allowed to venture at least 30 metres close to the pillar, but vehicles ply within 5 and 10 feet, which only shows how unscientific the safety measures have been in place."

#Bangalore Under construction #metro pillar collapsed, killing two.

It was bound to happen. No safety for commuters. On BTM Road also, I saw, metro construction work going on and below huge traffic. My heart came to mouth.

No value for human lives. 👎👎

(twitter image) pic.twitter.com/wefLyOpLUT

— Pramod Kumar Srivastava (@P_K_Srivastava) January 10, 2023

BMRCL Announces ₹20 Lakh Ex-Gratia

Managing director of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Anjum Parvez, described the incident as unfortunate and said that an internal audit would be launched to investigate the reasons that led to the tragic incident. "According to the report by our engineers, all safety measures were taken as per the standard protocol, but still, the incident has happened, so we will have to do the fact-finding," he added. Whether there was any manual negligence or technical problem, details remain unknown. However, the corporation has stated that they would be taking every necessary precaution to avoid any such untoward incident.

#BreakingNews: A 2-year-old child and mother killed after an under construction pillar of the #Bengaluru metro on Outer Ring Road near Nagavara collapsed today. Despite several calls, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited has not shared any details on the incident. pic.twitter.com/u917W93V6s

— Karnataka Congress SevaDal (@SevadalKA) January 10, 2023

While the BMRCL has defended their construction quality and conveyed that there is no question of inferior work done by the BMRCL, Dr Bheemashankar S Guled, Deputy Commissioner Of Police (DCP) of Bengaluru East has sent forensic experts to the incident site for investigation. Furthermore, Parvez stated that the BMRCL would provide ₹20 Lakh ex-gratia to the victims' kin.

Bangalore Metro Rail statement on today's pillar collapse that killed a lady and her infant pic.twitter.com/9MSEwa0kl8

— Padmaja joshi (@PadmajaJoshi) January 10, 2023

Opposition Quick To Blame Ruling Party

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has assured a thorough inquiry into the accident and ascertained that compensation would be offered to the victims of the incident. DK Shivakumar, state chief of the Karnataka Congress party, came ahead and blamed the ruling government for the tragic incident that claimed the lives of two. He also took a swipe at the commission allegations on the CM and said, "This is the result of the 40% commission government. There is no quality in development works."

Regardless of the accusations that fall left and right after such incidents, it is to be noted that the accidents have been reported multiple times since the metro construction began. The death of the mother and the toddler is a recent incident reported due to the under-construction Metro project.

Earlier in the IT capital, a 21-year-old BMRCL labourer Santosh Hansda, died after a cable pierced his head on December 2020. In April 2021, 65-year-old Nagaraj fell into the utility shaft of Yelachenahalli Metro station and died on the spot. Govinda Raj, a 47-year-old who was overseeing the lifting of the frame for the construction of the emergency staircase at Peenya metro station, was hit by a six-tonne iron frame and died in 2013.

According to a report by the Indian Express, there have also been multiple road accidents caused by the barricading of roads for the construction of the Metro. The construction projects had flagged off in 2007, and the city now has a stretch of 55.6 km of the operational metro line and another 116.86km of the metro line under construction.

Also Read: Chunk Of Ceiling Falls Off Metro Station In Bengaluru, Casts Doubt Over Namma Metro